Roy Keane has revealed he turned down the chance to succeed Neil Lennon as Celtic manager in the summer because the Parkhead club failed to make him feel wanted enough.

The former Manchester United midfielder was left disappointed by a take it or leave it contract offer packed full of unappealing clauses that 'failed to rock my boat’.

The inflexible and cut-price nature of the negotiations over the manager’s job with the Scottish champions reminded Keane of the club playing on his affections when negotiating his deal to sign as a player in 2005.

Roy Keane played for Celtic between 2005 and 2006 but turned down the chance to manage the club

Keane, pictured here in his testimonial match in 2006, said Celtic didn't make him feel wanted this summer

An unimpressed Keane was left thinking: ‘They were playing the part — 'It’s Celtic' — you should almost go up there for nothing.

‘Celtic wanted me but they weren’t showing how much they wanted me.’

And a non-negotiable decision to appoint his right-hand-man — thought to be under-pressure current boss Ronny Deila — also left the fiery Irishman feeling Celtic had doubts over his ability, even though he had been offered the job by majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.

Speaking in his new autobiography The Second Half, the 43-year-old recalled the moment Celtic made their move in late May.

‘I got a call: would I go and have a chat with Dermot Desmond? I’d met him once before, in 2005, when I was signing to play for Celtic.

‘I met him for a cup of tea. It was in the middle of an international week, in Dublin.

Keane believes Celtic thought the club's reputation on its own would be enough to lure him back to Parkhead

‘At the end of the chat, he said: 'The job is yours'.

‘It was all pretty straightforward. There would be one or two restrictions, about staff. They had already picked the man who would be my assistant and they were insisting on him.

‘It didn’t scare me off but it did get me thinking. It wasn’t an ideal start. Were they doubting me already?

‘I came back to the team hotel and spoke to Martin (O’Neill). I told him I would have a think about it.

‘We (the Republic of Ireland) had a game against Italy at Craven Cottage in London on the following Saturday.

After turning down the Celtic manager's job, Keane joined Aston Villa as Paul Lambert's assistant manager

‘The fact I had spoken to Dermot Desmond had become public knowledge.

‘It had to, because Martin had a press conference and a few things had been leaked — as usual.

‘I was delighted. It was a massive compliment. Over the years, I had always said: “If you’re offered the Celtic job, you don’t turn it down”.

‘I was in a predicament ...and my gut feeling was saying: 'You’re on your own with this one'.